*doffs cap*
True story: this week we have been visiting our respective parents. My wife's mother uses a walker, one of the type with wheels and a seat and handbrakes. One of the handbrakes wasn't working, and she asked my father in law to fix it.

He puzzled over it for a time, holding a pair of pliers and uncertain of how to proceed. She called from the other room for him, asking if he had it fixed yet, and I could see his frustration mounting, so I offered my help, which he gladly accepted.

It turns out that they work by means of a cable, just like on a bicycle, and at the bottom of the cable is a threaded bit with a nut that braces against a bracket for tension. I pulled it back with my fingers, twirled the nut down a bit with my fingertip, then released it. Wallah! Adjusted. It took me less than twenty seconds to get it sorted.

He looked stunned. I grinned and said, "That's why I'm an engineer and you're a PhD in mammology. I can't do your work either."

He chuckled as he wheeled it into the other room.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 30 Dec 2011, 15:50, Reply)